


i know i love you

by doodle_noodle



Category: A Hero and a Garden (Visual Novel)
Genre: Cute, Domestic Fluff, Dying Cyrus, Fluff, Implied Relationships, M/M, Oblivious Yen, anyway, im surprised no one wrote anything, this doesnt exist yet wth, this game is cool, yay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:33:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25585216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doodle_noodle/pseuds/doodle_noodle
Summary: Cyrus knew he loved him, but he'll never say that until Yen does, end of story. That is, if Yen even realizes his own love.
Relationships: Yen/Cyrus
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> how come nothing has been written for this game?????? with characters like these??????

"Yo, Yen," The blond pushed through the pharmacy doors, a bag of berries in hand. "I have your buttonberries."

"Cyrus," The doctor said, turning from his book to the man standing in front of his door. He closes the book with a resounding 'thump', and shuffles towards the hero. "Thank you." he receives the bag quietly.

"Uh, can I stay here for a while? It's been a long day, I'm kinda tired." Cyrus rubs a hand at the back of his neck as he asks so.

Yen raises a brow. "Don't you have more deliveries to make? And how about the store?"

"Ah, well, you're my last one, and Nell's watching the store right now."

The doctor hums at this, adjusting his glasses as he brings the bag of berries past the small counter door and to the back. He emerges from there and looks at the hero blankly. "Very well. Also, it is 'may I' and not 'can I'."

Cyrus huffs. "Okay, okay, no need to get yourself in a twist."

"My body is nowhere near a twist."

"That's not—nevermind. I should stop saying human idioms when I'm with you." Cyrus finds a small chair by the front of the counter and quickly moves to sit on it.

"I do not understand what you're saying, but I'll be in the back." Yen stops in thought for a moment, before saying, "Would you like me to prepare some tea?"

"Tea? Oh, sure." The blond hero cocks his head to the side in intrigue. "You're being particularly generous."

"I am merely applying the 'thoughtfulness' you talked about the other day." the doctor replies, before shuffling to the back once more. 

Now, Cyrus spends his time observing the pharmacy. He's only been here once or twice, since he's only started the delivery service thing recently (Vesper was quite shocked when she heard he wanted to get closer to the villagers). His eyes wander the room.

It's very different from a normal human pharmacy, neat and organized. Despite what he expected from Yen, the two shelves lining each wall were filled haphazardly with jars and bottles labelled in an obscure language Cyrus couldn't be bothered with. A pile of books lay on the counter, and he assumes it's been there for quite some time, since the top of the pile was collecting dust.

"You mentioned Nell watching your store?" Yen said, as he brought a tray of tea and sugar. "Should I be worried? I've heard child labour is quite common with humans."

"What? What—no, I'm not that kind of person." He dumps in two cubes of sugar in his cup as soon as the tea is set on the counter. "Besides, only bad humans do that."

Yen hums in reply. "I see. I'll trust you then."

Cyrus nods his head in an _as you should_ manner before taking a sip of his tea, raising a brow after tasting it. "This tastes like...citrus?"

"Hm. Letta told me human citrus was good with tea."

"Ah, I see."

Yen goes behind the counter without a word, and sits himself upon the high chair there. He takes his own cup of tea, and sips it without lumping even a single cube of sugar in it. They sit in total, quite comfortable, silence for a while.

"Would you like any help with the buttonberries?" Cyrus asks. Yen looks at him blankly, but from what the blond gathered after weeks of spending time with him, silence could mean anything. This time, he hopes the silence meant consideration.

He takes a sip from his cup. "Do you know how to ground things finely?" he finally says.

The hero perks up. "Yeah, I think so."

"Alright then. Finish your tea and we'll start."

They take a moment or two to finish, little words said here and there about the town, Letta and Vesper, even Era. Soon, the only tea left is about a quarter of the pot, and Yen decides to save it for later, placing little lemon slices in it. He guides Cyrus to the back, where the blond sees the bag of buttonberries he brought earlier on the table in the middle of the room.

What he assumes is an oven lies a little ways to the back of the room, and several trinkets and what he would call machines littered every part of the room. Cyrus takes his time roaming and allows his eyes to jump from one object to another as the doctor moves around, gathering a few. Several times, he reaches out to something near Cyrus, and the blond feels the brush of skin to skin. Before they could repeat that some more, Cyrus approaches the berries instead.

"How do you even ground fruit 'finely'?" he asks, as he takes one of the blue fruit and flips it around in his hand. It was fleshy, as fruit normally is (yet it looks like the plastic a button should be; Cyrus has learned not to question the things the magical world conrains).

"It has a hard center. That's what you ground. The flesh can be used for other things, however, so do not throw them." Yen says, bringing a mortar and pestle, which Cyrus takes and places on the table.

Yen shows the other how to peel a buttonberry, which the hero would compare to a mango—peel it from the top, and leave the flesh aside. Like so, he follows, and they quickly settle into a silence punctuated by the dropping of fruit peel in a bowl and their own breathing. Cyrus asked the other for another bowl when the thought finally hits him.

_This is quite domestic, isn't it._

He has to hold the side of the table, leaving his partially peeled fruit, to hold back the blush creeping onto his cheeks.

"Cyrus?" The doctor peers at him with a look only slightly different from his usual blank one, which the hero would interpret as curiosity(?). "What's wrong?"

"N-nothing," the blond chokes out, willing himself to straighten up and grab the fruit again. "Nothing at all." 

Yen is left confused, but brushes it off as his companion picks up another fruit.

•••

Cyrus closes his shop's door, and quickly crouches down, head in his hands. "Argh!"

It has been a while since he and Yen finished grounding the fruit's center. Apparently that wasn't the seed, but what was inside that was—it isn't poisonous or anything, so they didn't have to worry. Again, Cyrus has given up on questioning anything from the magical world.

But that wasn't what he was groaning about, no. For the next hour or two after his Great Revelation™, he spent it almost blushing over the fact that someone could barge in (that wouldn't happen, they locked the door, but _if_ ), they would see the two men and think, _ah, they're dating_. He tried very hard to make it seem like he didn't care, and for once he was grateful for Yen's oblivious disposition.

The blond lifts his head up, frantically whipping around to see if anyone was still in the shop, or the garden, to see him. Thankfully, he had already sent Nell off with some berries for her and her mother, so she wasn't able to see his very red state. He stands up again, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

Yen just _has_ to like him. It's impossible he doesn't. The number of times their skin has brushed definitely wasn't something you could tell off as accidents, and over the weeks, Cyrus definitely knew that was a blush, it might not show much, but his skin was definitely turning darker.

He paces around, deciding to head to the garden instead, so he could help the berries grow while he goes through his mini crisis in his head. His feet travel across the wooden floor of the shop and land on the grassy one of the garden. He breathes in and sighs; he truly is more relaxed here.

Quickly, his hands fall into the ever growing habit of picking fruit while he thinks (it's productive, he doesn't mind). He's got a huge mountain of pride, and he knows that. What he also knows, however, was that he liked Yen. Bad combination of knowledge there.

He had decided the moment he realized his heart beating faster, or his face heating up, or the fact that he actually wanted to spend more time with the blank-faced doctor wasn't normal, that he wouldn't be the first to confess. He had already been at the mercy of him before, he can't repeat that again. But the slight changes of hesitation instead of a full on 'no' has been killing him for days. It's impossible for one person to be so cute.

(Actually, no, it is possible, Cyrus just didn't want to believe it had to be Yen of all people.)

Soon, he had collected baskets full of fruit as he thought, so he decided to call it a night.

He heads back to the shop, turning to the side to his bedroom. He tucks himself in, and hopes he thought enough for tomorrow as well.

•••

He didn't. 

The moment he woke up, Era arrived with a letter from Yen about thanking him for the help yesterday. Since then, his mind has been plagued by _Yen, Yen, Yen,_ over and over again. If his brain was a broken record, he would very much like to throw it out just about now.

So now, he was back at it again, picking berries while overthinking—he didn't want to make this an even bigger habit, but with the way things are going, he can't be too sure. Thankfully, the bell of the storefront rings to pull him out of his thoughts. He places the berries in a basket and rushes to the front, only to scowl at who he meets there.

"Vesper." he says, and the witch nods in greeting.

"Nell isn't here?" she asks, looking around for orange hair. 

Cyrus watches her look around the shop, for what he will assume is nothing in particular. No matter how much the princess tells him Vesper just wants to see how the shop is doing, he won't change his mind about her coming over just to bother him. He's sure about it. 

He replies hesitantly, "No, she isn't. I gave her a week off, since it's her mom's birthday on the weekend."

"Ah, I see. How very like you."

"What do you mean—"

"Are you going to do deliveries today?"

He's a bit put off by the sudden question, but he shakes it off. "No, we don't have any deliveries today."

"Are you busy, in any way?"

"...No?"

She hums, and her eyes that were previously roaming the store, were trained on him. "Alright then. It's good to see the shop doing well."

The pink haired woman doesn't give him even a moment to say anything, before she's out again, the only proof she was there being the sight of her walking from his storefront. He sighs. He really will never be able to get a read on her.

The blond slinks back to the garden, the rest of his day will be filled with the sound of fruits thumping into a basket, and he'll soon get to wipe off the sweat on his brow and call it a day—

—was what he thought. But that was before he heard another ring of the bell. He hurries to the front; could it be Nell? Or Era?

But no, he sees a familiar face, green hair, and glasses instead. 

"Yen," he says, in a way similar to how he greeted the witch before him.

"That is my name, yes." His eyes dart to the store's door. "May I come in?"

"I don't know what you're up to but," he says, opening the door for him. "Come in."

The doctor enters, surveying his surroundings as Cyrus learned he usually did, in places he's not used to, often very dubiously. This time, he doesn't seem tense however, it was as if he merely wanted to know more about the place, than be cautious. Cyrus is snapped out of his head as Yen turns to look at him.

"May I...stay here, for a while?"

The hero almost raises his brows at the question; sure, he asks that too, but Yen never really showed any desire of doing so as well. Until now. "Uh, sure, yeah. Let's go to the back, I have chairs by the garden."

He moves swiftly past the doctor, and leads the way to the garden, even though he knows the other probably already knows where everything is. He just wanted to hide the blood rushing to his face. 

_What was that?! You can't just burst in with a surprise attack like that, how cute can you be?? I feel disgusting, so disgusting, for thinking about you like this, you of all people. But if you keep doing things like that, I'll die! I'll die, I tell you—_

If he cared to look behind for even a second, he'd see that Yen's face was very much the same. He doesn't, however, because he misses opportunities like that.

They settled into the cute little garden chairs Vesper decided to give to him, on Letta's request. They were nice, he'd admit (not to her face, of course). Very comfortable. Cyrus brings cookies from Nell's mother as a snack.

"Your timing is creepily good. I'm not busy at all today." the hero says, as they sip on the tea he brought for them.

The doctor hums, eyes only looking at the liquid in his cup. "I asked Vesper."

Cyrus raises a brow. "You _wanted_ to hang out today?"

"Is that wrong?" He is asked, the tone of his companion's voice already slightly annoyed. He decides to back off.

"No, not at all. You just seem like the type of person to not want anything to the point of bringing others in."

Again, Yen hums. This time, his voice is soft as he speaks, "Being with you is surprisingly nice."

_Do you want me to die so badly, Yen?_

Cyrus stops for a moment, leaving an involuntary nod as his reply, which Yen takes as answer enough. What is with this game? Does Yen even know what he's doing? Brushing skin, asking for favours, kinder replies, and now he wants to hang out? There has to be a limit to what Cyrus can endure.

He reaches out for cookies, just as the other does. His breath hitches in his throat, just as you may have read in love stories that Cyrus frankly didn' believe in, when their fingers brush slightly. 

Suddenly, something in him snaps.

He shoves the cookie in his mouth angrily. "What do you want, Yen?"

"What?"

"You've been teasing me for the past weeks—asking for little favours, a _lot_ of 'accidental' hand brushing, and now you want to hang out. What's with this game of yours?" he finally gets out, brows furrowing accusingly.

Yen, on the other hand, looks very confused. "I don't know what kind if game you're talking about. I just like touching you. I just like talking to you. What do you mean?"

What do you mean? The nerve of him to be asking that, after saying something so cheesy. "I should be asking you that! What do you mean, 'you like touching me', what do mean, 'you like talking to me'?"

"I-I just do." For once, since the moment Cyrus met him, Yen looked flustered. Well, as flustered as the doctor could be. "It feels nice...and soft. And warm. I like it."

Then, once again, the thought hits him.

_...Could it be?_

"Yen..." He starts out slowly, "Do you know what love is?"

At this, his companion looked thoroughly confused. "Love? Yes, of course."

"Do you know what it feels like?" he prods. 

"No?" the other cocks his head, looking even more confused than before.

Cyrus gulps to wet his dry throat, and decides to push forth; he's gone this far anyway. "What do you feel like around me?"

"You? I don't understand why you're asking me this."

"Just answer." he says, exasperatedly. 

The doctor narrows his eyes at him. "I feel safe around you. You're a very comforting person to be around. But for some reason, even when I'm not in danger, my heart beats quickly."

_What an idiot._

The hero's face goes blank. Quickly, he covers his face with his hands, opting to groan in them slightly. Of course he'd like someone who doesn't realize he does too. Not only did he have to wreck a whole village, he also had to fall for some kind of idiotic genius.

"Cyrus?" He hears, and he's out of it again.

He sighs. Perhaps he should confess first after all—

—no. You thought. 

"It's nothing." he says, deciding to munch into another cookie. "Nothing at all."

His pride is a little too big for confessing right now, but he'll at least do it when Yen actually realizes his feelings. Until then, he's okay with waiting.


	2. bonuses :DD

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> thanks to a certain someone talking abt headcannons w me, i have decided to add these. these are all headcannons lol

**Bonus #1: The Yen Fanclub**

Cyrus is once again, delivering berries to the villagers. This time, he comes across many whispers from a group of young ladies(?) in the corner of Rutaboo's general store. He eyes them wearily, as their own pairs of eyes follow him. He is cautiously picking off a foodstuff from the shelf when one of them, ears pointy and face small, comes in front of him.

"Uh," she starts, nervously. "What's the connection between you and Doctor Yen?"

"Us? Oh, we're just friends." the blond replies, adding a mental, _I wish we were more, though_.

The girl breathes a sigh of relief, and hurries back to her frends to relay the information. They seem to relax a bit, but tenseness can be seen in their shoulders, as far as Cyrus could tell. He opens the bag of foodstuff, and moves to sit in a vacant table of the store.

The last girl moves to come back to him, but another stops her. This time, he is approached by her, dark hair with leaves weaving into them swishing as she walked. 

"Are you harming Yen in any way?" she comes off strong, a glare in her eyes as if the moment he even breathes wrong, he's dead.

He decides to reply just as strongly, "No, I am not." 

But just then, Yen enters the store. He looks at the blond, paying no attention to girl in front of him, and nods. "Hello, Cyrus."

"Hello to you too, Yen." he replies.

As soon as Yen stalks away, Cyrus brings his head to his hands, lightly banging his forehead on the table. The girl peers at him curiously, despite their enemy-like relationship earlier. 

"What's wrong?" she asks.

He lifts his head up, and she is startled with the red state of his face. He breathes a whisper, "He said _hello_."

And at that moment, like the many moments Cyrus was hit by a thought, that girl and her seemingly Yen-obsessed group was as well. 

_Ah. So that's how it is._

**Bonus #2: The Unexpected Love Consultant**

Letta sits in her home, sipping on the tea Vesper made earlier before she went to...what did she say again? Ah yes, trade with the goblins. Or was it orcs?

Just as Letta became more and mire confused by her own inner monologue, she hears a knock on her door. She quickly places her tea down and hurries to the door. "Hello?" she says as she opens it, and her greeting is met by a curt nod from the village's doctor.

"Letta. Pleasure seeing you. Where is Vesper?" he asks.

"Ah, she's...off somewhere." she says, not wanting to specify and expose the fact that she forgot wherever Vesper told her she'd go. "Why do you ask?"

"I just wanted to ask for some advice about something..." he trails off, and despite his dark skin, Letta is _pretty_ sure he's flustered. Her intrigue is piqued.

"Oh, then you can come inside, is it alright with you if I ask?"

"Yes, um..."

•••

Soon, the village is graced by their newest couple: a blushing Cyrus and ever oblivious Yen holding hands as they walk to the doctor's pharmacy. Letta nods at her work, pleased as can be. Someone else, a little elven girl this time, approaches her. 

Vesper is confused by the new amount of people wishing to see Letta, and the new couples popping up around the village, but nods as well, after seeing the satisfied look on her princess's face.

**Bonus #3: Vesper Is Just The Same**

Vesper is very annoyed by the village's newest couple: Yen and Cyrus. Don't get her wrong, she loves Yen (nevermind Cyrus), but the fact that they decide to rub it everyone's faces that they're finally dating, can be very tiring. However, she finds Cyrus very amusing.

Once, she discovered him paying more attention to the buttonberries just for them to grow faster so he could meet Yen. Another time, she found him discussing to the village girls and a few boys about the 'great cuteness that is a sleeping Yen'. She even heard them talking about making merchandise, once.

She seriously has to laugh at his face about this sometime. But that would after she comes back and brings this jewel she found that she thought would fit Letta very well. 

**Bonus #4: Yen Merch**

Yen walks around the village, and sees several pairs of glasses like his. Conscious, he adjusts his own, before continuing his way to Cyrus's store. When he arrives, he immediately asks Cyrus about this. The doctor is confused when the blond tells him not to mind it, but returns with his buttonberries nonetheless.

Back at the store, he and Nell pulls out the glasses in the pouches Vesper made for them. As they wear their brand new Yen Merch™(courtesy of the Yen Fanclub and Cyrus), the hero shakes his head.

"Nothing at all Yen," he says, watching the retreating lab coat. "Nothing at all."

**Author's Note:**

> this was written in like,,,2 days, so bear w typos pls!!


End file.
